Partners for Patriots finds a new home

Siouxland News first met Cindy Brodie back in November of last year and were introduced to an organization she's apart of called Partners for Patriots.

It's an organization that focuses on training dogs, who are mainly rescues, to provide help and care for disabled veterans.

Ever since Brodie moved the organization from her old home in Tennessee to here in Siouxland, she's been looking for a perfect place to establish the group's training center, and just last month, though it doesn't look like it right now, to Brodie, she hit the jackpot.

To most people, this property might look like a lost cause.

"It's an older barn," Cindy Brodie said.

Weeds over most of the grounds, rundown buildings and what seems like years of neglect.

But to a person like Brodie?

"I see so much potential." She said. "I see our big training center, I see dogs out here in kennels, I see many, many dogs being trained out here for the disabled veterans. I can picture it, it should be there tomorrow in my mind."

Partners for Patriots, which spends time teaching dogs how to help disabled veterans with tasks like giving them balance while standing, turning lights on and off and grabbing drinks from the refrigerator.

The organization was able to buy the property at a price they could afford and Brodie says it not only provides more space, but gives the possibility of training more canines.

"At the most we could probably get five," Brodie said, "six dogs out there to work but when this place is finished, we will have enough kennels for 26 dogs."

But Brodie says she can't do it alone.

"The more help we get the more dogs we can help get out to the veterans," she said.

Earlier this year, Partners for Patriots was one of the many organizations in Iowa that received a hundred thousand dollars from the Donald J. Trump Foundation after the presumptive Republican Nominee opted out of a FOX News Debate and held a rally instead to raise money for veterans.

And so far, most of that money has been saved.

"We could have paid the place off with the money but then we'd have nothing." Brodie said. "We still want to take the dogs and train the dogs and give the dogs vet care and feed the dogs so we're using most of it to put out more dogs."

But Brodie knows, with a little help, these five acres can become something out of nothing.

"I pulled in here and I just pictured the building." She said. "I could see the place out there, I could see everything. And everybody else is going oh yeah, looks like it needs a lot of work. But, why throw something away, you have to look at the potential underneath and underneath of this property I can see amazing things."